Next from Microsoft: 'Blue', the Windows 8 they hope you don't hate

Vid Windows Blue - the supposedly leaked sequel to Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system - will apparently look a lot more like Windows Phone 8 and allow users to further personalise their computers.

Copies of what appears to be build 9364 of Windows Blue are circulating on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks; once the alpha-grade software is installed, users will find they are able to customise colours on the start screen and poke smaller tiles without needing to go through the options warehouse of the Control Panel, we're told. The video below, posted to WinBeta.org, shows one can resize the Metro start screen tiles and move groups of tiles around the screen.

In further changes, swiping from the bottom to the top reveals your list of installed software – just like BlackBerry’s first Playbook tablet could do. Metro applications - programs using the new touch-driven user interface - can be snapped next to each other to share 50 per cent of the screen each.

There’s also some new apps, which include a basic Metro-style calculator, alarm and sound recorder, and a movie app – which doesn’t seem to work in the video.

Microsoft watcher Mary-Jo Foley reckons Blue is the codename Microsoft is using to describe a wave of updates and tweaks for Windows 8. The leaked build is apparently tagged as number 9364; Windows 8, which shipped in October last year, was build 9200.

From the look of this video, it seems Blue will not be a major new operating system release, but rather a service pack of sorts. This is unlikely to stop people waxing about the significance of each and every point change. ®